Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of detection and location devices and methodologies employing such devices, in particular, for those systems and devices which are used to detect and locate an object or objects, particularly remotely located objects whose location is unknown and sought by the user of the invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today""s world, with the individual""s increasing accumulation of possessions, and the progress of science and commerce constantly creating new consumer goods, it is increasingly difficult for the individual to keep track of or manage his or her possessions. The continued reduction in size of many of consumer goods containing electrical circuitry makes it easier for the individual to misplace these possessions, with a corresponding increase in difficulty in finding said misplaced possessions. Once, the haven of the lost only belonged to misplaced or mislaid glasses, keys, wallets, gloves, or other small personal items, but now the gates have opened to encompass a multitude of sophisticated electronic devices of reduced size such as portable phones, cellular phones, hand-held computers, personal calendar/diaries, remote controls for automobiles, entertainment devices and their associated remote controls, and the like. Today""s individual places great reliance on his or her electronic goods, and a temporary or permanent loss of these goods can cause great impairment to that individual and his or her ability to effectively function in today""s society.
There is a need for a means by which an individual can find such misplaced or waylaid items quickly and efficiently. Much of the prior art has focused on transponder/receiver technology in which a hand-held device, large enough so that it cannot be easily lost in the first place, is activated by the individual looking for the undetectable item. Upon activation, the hand-held device would emit a signal that would be detected by a receiver attached to or incorporated into the said misplaced item prior to becoming misplaced. Upon receipt of said signal, the receiver would activate its own signal generator, such as a light or sound emitter, to alert and guide the operator to the lost device""s location.
The prior art location apparatus would use ultrasound, infrared, radio frequency and the like for transmission/reception as a means to provide communication between transmitter and the receiver. The various types of circuitry employed therein are well known to those versed in the art.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,981 issued to Renny, U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,469 issued to Lander and U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,050 issued to Sacaa address the use of a wireless communication system comprised of a sending unit and a responding unit wherein a button on the sending unit causes the transmission of a fixed code that will be responded to by a particular responding unit.
What has not been adequately addressed by the prior art are those systems, means and apparati which would enhance the commercial viability of the location art. The issue that needs to be addressed is the allowance for the full realization of the commercial potential of the genre of the location art as a whole, not the specific means or methodology for location. What is needed is the universal capability of allowing a locating system to have a programmable/reprogrammable ability to reset a communication link between a control unit and a response unit that is connected to or made a part of the item sought to be located. This ability to program/reprogram would allow an item with a response unit to be easily integrated with one or more control units. This universal programmable/re-programmable aspect of such location systems and methods would greatly enhance the probability that manufacturers of consumer devices would utilize the invention knowing that their products would not have a single fixed response communication link, but could easily be programmed and reprogrammed indefinitely to fit that individual consumer""s location protocol. Thus, the consumer could buy a multitude of the same product or a multitude of different products, without losing the ability to find any of them when they were lost.
This invention is a universally programmable/re-programmable locating system and method, whereby the invention has a central control unit that can interact singularly or in combination with a multitude of response devices. Each response unit, either built into or otherwise associated with a searchable item, has the capability of having its communications linked to a central control unit that is easily programmed/reprogrammed. In this manner, an individual response unit can be changeably assigned to a specific actuator of a specific central control unit. This aspect also inversely allows the assignment of a response device to a specific actuator button located on a multitude of central control units.
This aspect of the invention further allows a response unit, either sold as a separate item or incorporated as part of a consumer good, to be easily assigned by the consumer to a specific setting on the individual consumer""s specific central control unit which may or may not be sold in conjunction with that particular response unit or that consumer good. At the same time, a response unit could be sold with a central control unit, both of which could be coordinated with other response units and central control units obtained at different times.
It is an object of the invention to allow the user to easily program the communication relationship between the central control unit and the response unit.
It is another object of the invention to allow a response unit to be assigned to several central control units.
It is a further object of the invention to enhance the commercial viability of the location art by permitting the response units built into one particular type of commercial goods to have the ability to be programmed in several different communication relations with a single central unit, thus allowing multiple purchases by a single consumer without losing the locating ability of any one specific good.
It is yet another object of the invention to enhance value and the resale capability of a consumer good associated with a response unit because of its universal transferability.
It is yet a further object of the invention to enhance the art of location systems in standardizing the response device which is no longer fixedly set to a specific communications relationship to a central control device.
It is yet another object of the invention to allow a user of the invention to purchase a device that is a subcomponent of goods, the subcomponent containing the response unit, thus allowing the good to acquire the location/detection capability of the subcomponent.